Please Don't Take the one I Love
by Almost an Actress
Summary: Inspired by Dolly Parton's song "Jolene," this is. An ugly, unpopular pony named Doll Face begs the beautiful, cold-hearted Jolene not to "take her man." Will Doll Face's pleas reach the cruel pony? (I don't even know why I wrote this, if I may say. It just ends sadly.)


Jolene

"Jolene, Jolene!" I cry, knocking on her door.

She opens it. "What?" she snaps, tossing her head.

"I'm begging of you: please don't take my man," I mumble quietly.

She snorts. "And why shouldn't I?" She tosses her head again and I observe her graceful beauty. Her beauty is beyond compare. She has cascading tresses of auburn hair, ivory-snow fur, and eyes of emerald green. She places a dainty hoof on my shoulder. "Just give it up, Doll Face."

It sounds like a corny pick-up line, but that was my actual name. Most people called me Dolly, though. "No," I find myself replying. "He's the only one for me!"

She shrugs. "Convince me not to."

"He talks about you in his sleep," I blurt. "I can't help but crying. It breaks my heart."

She smirks. "Satisfactory. All the more reason for me to take him, Dolly. You're doing pretty crummy so far."

"I… I…" I mutter. "You could have your choice of stallions. I couldn't ever love again."

"You'll get over it, Dolly. You're how old, seventeen?"

"You don't understand!" I cry in a begging tone.

"I think I do," she says coldly. "Look… come inside." She takes my hoof and leads me into her posh house. She sets me down in front of a vanity table. I look into the mirror. "Let's compare me to you," she says. "My name is beautiful auburn. Yours is pale, sickly pink. It's flat and lifeless. Much too short. Look at the way it hangs!"

It's true. My almost non-existent self-confidence shrivels to almost nothing. "You're right," I find myself muttering.

"Yeah. And look at your eyes! Dark blue! How boring is that? Mine are sea green, jade green, emerald green!"

"Yeah…"

"Your pelt! You are fire engine red," she snorts. "Ugly. It doesn't go with your mane. It doesn't go with your eyes! It's too bright! Mine is smooth, silky white. Let me go on, please. Your tail is too long, you're too tall, and you're too skinny. Your muzzle is too long and you're constantly biting your lip. Ugly habit." She drapes a white-and-purple-striped scarf around my neck. It makes me look sort of… bloated. That's the only way I can think to describe it. As quickly as she put it on, and whips it off and expertly puts it on her own neck in a matter of seconds. She looks stunning. The white brings out her auburn mane, instead of washing out her pelt like it would do on any normal pony. The purple brings out the emerald of her eyes.

I can't help but sigh.

"You see what I mean? I'm perfect. You're just… below-average." Jolene's eyes flash with kindness… just for one second. "But I can help you." She grabs a pair of scissors and snips my mane shorter before I can utter a word. In fact, I don't utter a word. I'm stunned into silence. After about ten minutes of snipping, she works on my tail. I squeeze my eyes shut, not wanting to look at what she's doing to me.

"Open your eyes," she commands.

I spin my chair away from the mirror and open my eyes. "Don't… blink," Jolene cautions, before popping a moist object into one eye… then the other.

"What are you doing?" I whimper.

"Putting contacts in your eyes, stupid," Jolene sniffs.

After hours of mane-and-tail dying, she makes me look in the mirror. I see a fire engine-red Earth pony with a trendy, short, cyan mane and tail. She's got golden-amber eyes (contacts, of course) and curled eyelashes slather in mascara. I gasp and turn around. "Thank you."

Jolene does something unexpected suddenly. She grins cruelly. "Glad you like it, Dolly." She tosses me the scarf. "Keep it." She seems in a rush now and shoves me out the door. "I've got a… "guest" coming soon."

I know who she means. All I can choke out is, "Why?"

"What? Why go to all this trouble? Why waste a day on a loser?" she smirks. "Your "man" wanted me to butter you up. Give you a make-over. A boost of confidence so you wouldn't take the break-up so hard."

Tears stream out my newly-amber eyes. "Jolene, Jolene. I'm beggin' of you. Please don't take my man." But it's too late.

She's already shut the door.


End file.
